Aluminum tubing instead of brass!

[JohnReid]

Has anyone here considered using aluminum tubing and superglue instead of brass and welds to construct a WW1 aircraft?
If it was finished and painted properly I bet you couldn't tell the difference. Most of our type modeling is making cage type assemblies supported by wire, so I don't think strength would be an issue.What do you think?

[terri werner]

Interesting John , it would reduce the weight of the model .

[bristol scout]

Indeed I have used Ali. tube and superglue for many years---and for cockpit details on flying models--but two points i think worth mentioning---in my experience I hasten to add.

1) Ali. doe's not 'like' being joined by superglue at all---especially where there are very small areas of attachment----but Accelerator does help.

2) Do not use it on large R/C models for anything---the bonding I mean! It does not handle the vibration at all well.

For plastic models it is O.K.---but I would'nt myself say that there are many real benefits.

Having said that--I never solder brass on plastic models (all the time on flying models---and silver solder on large one's) and small brass parts don't much like superglue either so can't win. Varnish sticks very small details well enough anyway....

Just my experience..

Dave.

[JohnReid]

Hi terri! In areas where you want increased strength as for a long tubes or where bending is required etc you could simply put a brass or aluminum rod inside the tube.
I know that sometimes dissimilar metals can corrode when in contact with each other over a long period but I don't know if alum/brass is one of them.In that case alum rod could be used instead.
Cutting and shaping alum tube , rod or other stuff is easy,actually easier than working with wood.I think a lot of people are turned off working with brass because of the welding that is required but a superglue joint would be very strong for modeling purposes.Has anyone here ever worked with alum ?
I wrote the above before the last post.

[JohnReid]

How about 2 part Epoxy?

[bristol scout]

Araldite IS very good (again I used to use it quite a bit on Flying models) John, and Essential for highly important stressed areas (like firewalls or wing attachment points etc.) but alway's use the slow drying for these areas, never the rapid) but for plastics around the normal scales, as I say, superglue /accelerator works well enough on either brass or Ali.--but for very small details varnish does the job better I think

Dave.

[JohnReid]

Thanks Dave!I would build it in my usual 1/16th scale for a diorama ,so it really wouldn't get a lot of handling.Probably an old junked Fokker fuselage for the Albatros diorama,just as an experiment to see what it is like to work with.Using steel pins to hold the parts together may also be an option.Somewhere down the road I will give it a go and see what happens.

[bristol scout]

Originally Posted by JohnReid

Thanks Dave!I would build it in my usual 1/16th scale for a diorama ,so it really wouldn't get a lot of handling.Probably an old junked Fokker fuselage for the Albatros diorama,just as an experiment to see what it is like to work with.Using steel pins to hold the parts together may also be an option.Somewhere down the road I will give it a go and see what happens.

Ah! I see John,

Yes a stripped Fokker fuselage would be good, and not too difficult either in wood, plastic or brass/ Ali. In 16th. I would probably opt for soldered Brass (i thought you meant 'plastic' scales) but inserting (push fit) wood into the ali. then filing the ali. at ALL joints so that the superglue gets a bit of wood also might be a viable option...

Dave.

[JohnReid]

Dave! Now that is a great idea.Love it!

[The PIPE]

Dear "bristol scout":

The PIPE Here again - and, like my old RC WW I scale buddy Hank Iltzsch did for the Bristol Scout D planset (AMA planset no.328) he did up, that was published in the March & April 1981 AMA magazine issues for its two-issue-long construction article...

...he DID specify using 1/8th inch OD aluminum tubing on the tail surfaces for the outer edges on that magnificent aircraft, as it was originally built.

When a set of flying surfaces actually USED metal tubing (especially IF it's "curved" in any two-dimensional way) for their edges, Hank got me into doing the exact same thing for a scale model of such an aircraft, "way back when" over 25 years ago...and my 1/6th scale Old Rhinebeck Fleet Finch RC Scale model has aluminum tubing on much of its rudder's outline perimeter.

The Bristol Scout C I'm doing up on CAD here at home, as a set of 1/4th sized Giant Scale drawings, will be using 3/32 inch diameter, scale sized aluminum tubing, for its rudder perimeter framing...and I'd bet that using 1/8th inch OD aluminum tubing for the outline of the stablizer will give the Scout C a very realistic appearance.

And...totally UNlike laminated wood strips, when used to do such outlines...when aluminum tubing IS used for the curved perimeter framing, and heat-shrunk fabric covering is used to cover the finished structure - I have yet to see the heat-shrunk fabric "swayback" the open lengths of aluminum tubing, while the same CANNOT be said for tail surface outlines done up with laminated wood strips, without a bit of gusset-like sheet balsawood bracing within the laminated outline pieces.

Adhering heat-shrunk fabric to a metal tubing outline CAN be done, with a coat of the "smelly" contact cement painted onto the bare tubing before covering begins, as a sort of "Balsarite for metal", for the heat-shrunk fabric coverings' heat activated adhesive to bond onto and stay firmly adhered when finished.

The flying "comma" rudder on my CAD set of 1:4 RC Giant Scale plans for Kurt Wintgens' Fokker M.5K/MG Eindecker prototype is intended to be entirely done with the proper size of aluminum tubing for its outline piece, and I'm not expecting a single "swayback" area on THAT rudder when it's someday built as part of constructing that historic aircraft in miniature for RC enjoyment.

Sooo...aluminum tubing CAN be used on certain parts of an RC aircraft's structure...it's just that it's BEST used on outline pieces for flying surfaces, where the original design used round metal tubing for the very same thing.

For relatively straight metal tubing "main structure" duties (like all Fokker WW I aircraft fuselages) from full scale designs, but in model form...that's most likely best done with round fiberglass tubing...but that's a story for another day, OR another "Flying Models" forum thread, here at TheAerodrome !!!

Yours Sincerely,

The PIPE!